OK, so they are rolling carts with drawers. The French name just sounds so very sexy, conjuring up images of Ancient Egypt and Monte Carlo! Very suitable for wargamers!
After the third time this year spending a few evenings searching for those figures I knew I had, not to mention layers of postal boxes crowding the distant nether regions of my wargames table, I decided that it was time to impose some sanity and system upon tings. These thoughts coincided with the New Year sales at Michaels Craft stores (a large chain here in the US). As part of their annual (more like seasonal!) storage sales, they had many kinds of storage solutions on sale (60% off regular price... which you should never pay for almost anything at Michaels unless you need it TODAY and can't wait; just sign up for their sales announcements on your cell!).
Anyway, I ordered one of the 5 drawer carts above, and two of the 10 drawer carts (below), plus a 16 drawer Really useful Box organizer (my third such and probably last), and the carts, er, ahem, chariots, arrived a few days later.
At under $30 each with the 60% off sale discount, it was no surprise that these are quite light weight. Indeed, the box on the 10 drawer cart advises that each drawer not hold more than 4 1/2 pounds. Definitely not the thing for stashing your North Korean Uranium stockpile. I can attest that heavier loads will make the drawers stick a bit, and I suppose over time they could bend the lightweight metal tracks that the drawers slide within.
They assembled very easily and quickly; it took me about 30 minutes to put together each one. They are lightweight, and thus were easily moved down to the basement. The only down side is that they are too tall to fit under the wargames table, which would have been perfect. Almost al;l of my unpainted Napoleonic lead is now in the drawers of one cart (the exception being those 200+ Old Glory Austrian infantry, which are in a box on top of the cart). Austrians in the Yellow drawers, French in the Blue drawers, Russians in the Green drawer, British in the Red, Poles in Pink, Prussians in Purple and so on. Most other eras are in the second cart - Romans in the red drawer, Afrika project in the Orange drawer, space ships in the purple drawer, etc
The 5 drawer cart is being used for terrain items needing painting, etc. The remaining items in the lead pile are a few assorted Perry HYW figures, Old Glory HYW cavalry, and some Italian Wars figures; they will find a home in the Really useful Box drawer unit due to arrive this week. Now I just need to clear off the rest of the junk from the far end of my table, and replace the two burned out shop light units above it!
I have one of those 5-colour 10-drawer rolling carts, i n which I keep some of my Napoleonic figures. It can accommodate quite a lot. The only drawback is that the figures do collect dust. I have also another 10-tray system, similar, but wider. Now, useful as it is, it is not ideal for accommodating metal figures, as the wider trays have a more pronounced tendency to sag. That leads to the trays too easily falling out of their slides. A minor nuisance only, but not what you'd call ideal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback. It had occurred to be that being open, dust might accumulate, which is why these are fro unpainted figures only. Fortunately, I don't thionk the weight of the lead pile will be an issue!
DeleteHandy looking units, Peter - I like those. I was very surprised to get a glimpse of Mr Trump in your last picture - I hope he was impressed too.
ReplyDeleteLOL! Zoe (one of our Golden Retrievers) is deeply insulted, though. Mr Trump is always impressed with... himself.
DeleteMobile infantry carriers... sounds almost mechanized.
ReplyDeleteThey could be Daleks, too...
DeleteVery handy and a great storage solution. Storing the unpainted like this is a great idea and much easier than having to sort through plain cardboard boxes.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it accomplishes the task. I will/have subgrouped at least some the figures in each drawer in plastic bags with a description of the contents... which will also help with the dust issue.
DeleteInteresting idea, storing hordes of figures is a challenge alright! I particularly like your colour coding!! :)
ReplyDeleteThe painted figures I pretty much have down... but I need to color code my non Napoleonic troops to make it easier to find them in their Really Useful Boxes.
DeleteNice colour coded storage boxes,much better than my anonymous cardboard boxes, although I always look upon it as a memory challenge!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks; one too many of those "memory challenges" lately lead me to adopt a more rational solution! :-)
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